" Calle Nicolas Bravo," the doctor said. "This street runs parallel to the boulevard. It will take us to El Diablo's compound. Maybe, a dozen blocks west of where we stand. And the traffic is one-way toward us, so we will see cars approaching. But we must be careful. When it is dark, Nuevo Laredo is a very dangerous place. Here, you are either predator or prey."
"I'm armed and dangerous, Doc."
" Mi amigo, this is Nuevo Laredo."
They walked down the cramped street past ramshackle residences so close to the street you could spit through the windows. Corrugated tin sheets and wood pallets fashioned fences that corralled chickens and goats. Old American cars were parked halfway onto the narrow sidewalk.
"I always wondered what happened to all the Oldsmobiles," Bode said.
"Governor, what if she is not in the compound? What if we cannot find her?"
"She'll be there. He wants me to find her."
Bode stopped and retrieved the handheld GPS unit from his coat pocket.
"And I can track her on this."
Bode activated the GPS and got a signal. Good girl.
"How?"
"Her cell phone. I can track it."
"But he would have taken her phone."
"She hid it where he wouldn't find it."
"Where?"
"You're a doctor, figure it out."
"Oh. How do you know she would do that?"
"Because I've been married to her for twenty-two years. She's smart, and she's tough."
He turned the GPS off and put it back in his pocket.
"Let's go get her, Doc."
They continued west on Calle Nicolas Bravo and crossed 20 Noviembre San Antonio. Bode glanced down the side street and saw several groups of tough-looking men gathered outside cheap cantinas.
"Do not look at them," the doctor said.
They walked fast down the south side of the street and crossed another intersection. Bode looked up at the road sign: Jose de Escandon. When he looked back down, a man jumped from the shadows and tackled the doctor like a linebacker flattening a quarterback. He apparently hadn't seen Bode behind the doctor. Bode pulled his six-shooter and put the big barrel in the man's face. His eyes were suddenly wide. Bode spoke through clenched teeth.
"Get off my friend!"
He got off.
"Now git!"
He got.
The doctor stood and said, "So I am your friend?"
"Depends."
"On what?"
"If we get her out alive."
They hurried on. The streets were lit with neon signs for Corona and Tecate and Pesos-Dolares and all-night Farmacias. Late-night partiers stumbled down the sidewalks until they fell over or were beaten and robbed. Hookers plied their trade for a few pesos. Austin's Sixth Street could be a bit wild at times, but the biggest danger was getting puked on.
Nuevo Laredo was the goddamn Wild West.
Headlights appeared in front of them, and the doctor abruptly grabbed Bode's coat and yanked him off the sidewalk.
"Governor, this way!" he said in a hushed voice.
He pulled Bode down behind a small adobe wall with a sign for Mision Pentecostal. They remained hidden until a military-style truck with armed soldiers in the back drove past.
" Federales," the doctor said.
They stood and headed west again, faster now. They crossed Pedro J. Mendez and Santos Degollado streets. Each intersection seemed busier than the previous one.
"We are getting closer to the city center," the doctor said.
The structures were low, and the tall white compound loomed over the buildings like a castle on a hilltop, so they had no trouble maintaining their bearing. They went through the Jesus Carranza and Leandro Valle intersections and past small auto repair shops with cars jacked up on blocks in the side yards and more cantinas and more… headlights coming toward them. They ducked behind a small Tacos y Taquitos stand and waited for the vehicle to pass. It was another truck with armed men in the back.
" Federales? " Bode asked.
"Cartel soldados," the doctor said. "Looking for a fight with the federales."
The Wild West.
They jogged down the street. They had entered a bar district: El Paso del Norte, La Cascada, Aguilar Ladies Bar, and other such establishments lined both sides of the street.
"We are close now," the doctor said.
They came to the intersection at Avenida Melchor Ocampo.
"We go north here. The next intersection is Vincente Guerrero, a very busy street. This street is not so busy."
They hurried up the west sidewalk, which was shielded by cars parked along the street and shade trees. They were in a better part of town. Bode felt a sense of relief come over him-until he was slammed up against a building and a knife was jammed against his throat. A large Mexican man with whiskey breath put his weight into Bode.
"?Tu dinero o tu vida! "
"Our money or our lives," the doctor said.
"I'm the governor. I don't carry cash."
The doctor dug in his pocket and produced a handful of coins. The man took the money then threw the coins on the sidewalk.
"?Mas dinero! "
The doctor shook his head.
" No mas dinero. "
The man pulled the knife back as if to stab Bode, but his body suddenly clenched and his eyes bulged and he groaned. A hand-a white hand-emerged from the darkness behind the man and clamped over his mouth. The man dropped his knife and slowly crumpled to the ground. A shaggy figure leaned over the man a moment then stood and faced Bode.
"What the hell are you doing here, Governor?"
" Eddie? "
He stared at Eddie Jones' face in disbelief.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Saving your life."
"Thanks, but why are you in Nuevo Laredo?"
"'Cause you're paying me a million bucks to kill El Diablo."
"I am?"
"Jim Bob is. Campaign expense."
"Can you do it? Kill him?"
"Yeah, I can kill him. That's not the problem. Getting back across the river alive, that's the problem. So, Governor, what brings you to Nuevo Laredo?"
"He took my wife."
"From the colonia," the doctor said. "This morning."
Eddie nodded. "Using her as bait. It's working. So what, you and the doc here figure on walking into that compound, killing the baddest drug lord in all of Mexico, rescuing the little lady, and then hightailing it back across the river before daybreak?"
Bode shrugged. "As a matter of fact, that is the plan."
"Well, Governor, as plans go, it sucks." He glanced around. "Come on, let's find a place to make a new plan."
Bode pointed at the man lying on the ground.
"Is he dead?"
Eddie kicked the body.
"Oh, yeah, he's dead."
"Maybe we should move him. A dead body on the sidewalk might attract attention."
"In Nuevo Laredo?"
Enrique de la Garza did not sleep well alone. So he often worked late at night, after he put Carmelita to bed and read her a story in the ingles so she too could attend Harvard. He was in his office now, nowhere close to sleep, not with the governor's wife just one floor below in bed.
"You bring any weapons?" Eddie asked.
They had found a secluded alley around the corner between Farmacias where the doctor said Americans cross the river to buy cheaper prescriptions. Bode now pulled his dangerous game rifle off his shoulder and showed it to Eddie.
"Jesus, Governor, you'll wake up all of Nuevo Laredo with this thing."
"One of those three-seventy-five caliber slugs, guaranteed to ruin El Diablo's day."
"True, but we need to be a little stealthy."
"I'm a good shot."
"No doubt, Governor, but this ain't the turkey shoot back in Comfort. What else you bring?"
Bode pulled the six-shooter from his waistband.
"Colt Walker. 44-caliber six-shooter. It'll blow a hole the size of a bowling ball through a full-grown man."
Eddie blinked.
"A six-shooter?"
The doctor held his six-shooter out.
"I have one, too."
"Anything else?"
Bode pulled his right sleeve up to reveal the small pistol rubber-banded to his wrist.
"A Derringer?"
"Forty-one-caliber double-barreled."
Eddie shook his head. "How 'bout you, Doc, you bring anything?"
"This."
The doctor reached into his pocket and came out holding a scalpel.
"A scalpel? What else you got in there, a catheter?"
Bode was getting a little annoyed.
"So what'd you bring?"
"Just these."
Eddie pulled a gun.
"Nine millimeter Glock. Fifteen-round clip." He screwed a long tube onto the barrel. "With a silencer."
Eddie opened his ratty jacket to reveal a sawed-off shotgun slung under one arm and a small weapon under the other.
"Uzi," he said.
He lifted his pants leg to reveal a long knife with a serrated blade in a leg sheath. Taped to his other leg was an ice pick.
"You bring a can of Mace, too."
Eddie chuckled.
"You came prepared."
"This is what I do, Governor."
"I thought you were a gopher?"
"I am. I get what I go for."
Could the governor's wife love him if he killed the governor? Some women might be offended by such an act. But she had been working in the colonias for five months, perhaps she had left the governor, as the rumors on cable suggested. And he had cheated on her; she could not feel that strongly about him. If Enrique had cheated on Liliana, she would have killed him herself. With the governor out of the picture, certainly Enrique would be the front-runner for her affection. Who else would be in the race? There were no eligible men for her in the colonias… except Dr. Rincon. Yes, he was also educated and quite handsome. But he was quite poor. A woman such as the governor's wife was accustomed to certain things in life, things that only a man such as Enrique de la Garza could provide. Perhaps it was the wine he had with dinner or the brandy he had after dinner-or perhaps it was his lack of sleep-but he actually entertained the thought that one day the governor's wife might be his wife.
The federales and cartels had set up competing roadblocks throughout the city manned by heavily armed men.
"And they wonder why tourists don't come no more," Eddie said.
They evaded the roadblocks by backtracking and taking a longer route around, cutting through alleys, and even maneuvering through a side street of small motels manned by women dressed in lingerie. Shortly before 3:00 A.M., they arrived at the street on which the white compound was located. They ducked into a dark alley between two buildings. Bode accidentally kicked a beer can; it sounded like a siren as it careened down the concrete. Eddie put a finger to his lips.
"Shh."
At each end of the street stood a man with a rifle slung over his shoulder.
" Halcones," Eddie said. "Lookouts. The far one is policia, on El Diablo's payroll." He pulled out the Glock with the silencer. "Wait here."
He disappeared into the darkness. Bode and the doctor stood there, only their breathing breaking the silence.
"I miss him already," the doctor said.
They peeked around the edge of the building and observed the halcones. First one, then the other, dropped to the ground. Eddie pulled the bodies out of sight.
"He is very good," the doctor said.
"?No mueva! "
They didn't move. They turned slowly to the voice behind them. A policia held a gun on them. Bode hoped Eddie returned soon. He didn't. But a large brick suddenly slammed against the cop's head; he collapsed to the ground.
"Hidi, Governor."
Ranger Roy, sounding like a kid come to play.
"Roy-what the hell are you doing here?"
He wasn't wearing his Ranger uniform, but still, a six-foot-six Anglo in a T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers without a tan in the can stood out like a capitalist in Cuba.
"Mr. Burnet told me where you'd gone, so I drove down right after you left."
"Why?"
"Because I'm responsible for her. Mrs. Bonner, she's like my mother."
The boy's voice cracked.
"How'd you find us?"
He pulled a GPS unit out of his back pocket.
"Tracking your cell phone."
" Roy? "
Eddie had returned.
"Hi, Eddie."
Eddie turned his palms up.
"Anyone else coming?"
"Uh, no, I think this is it."
Eddie shook his head.
"Let's get closer."
They stayed in the shadows until they found another dark recess located directly across the narrow street from the front entrance to the compound. Standing outside tall iron gates were four massive hombres.
"I cased the place in daylight," Eddie said. "They've got sensors strung all the way around on top of the wall, so even if we could get over, we'd be dead before we hit the ground on the other side."
"So how are we going to get in?"
"The front door."
"The front door?"
"Who would be stupid enough to try that?"
"Good point."
Eddie pulled out the Glock with the silencer again.
"Once we get in, we'll have to split up to find your wife."
"No, we won't."
Bode retrieved the GPS unit and activated it again. The signal came on.
"I'm tracking her cell phone."
"No way he let her keep her phone."
"She hid it."
"Where could she…?" Eddie smiled. "Your wife's a tough broad, Governor."
They looked at each other for a long solemn moment.
"Well, let's go get her," Bode said.
Eddie pulled his knit cap down low and the collar to his ratty jacket up high. He dug into his pack and pulled out a small sealed foil container of cottage cheese that smelled sour. He poured the stuff into his mouth, but he didn't swallow. He kept his right hand free under the jacket to hold the weapon. He stepped out onto the sidewalk and began walking as if he were drunk. He stumbled back and forth then into the road, mumbling incoherently. As he approached the entrance gates, the guards started laughing. Eddie then dropped to his knees and puked the cottage cheese into the street. The guards laughed and stepped closer; Eddie rose up, leveled his gun at them, and shot all four men. They fell to the pavement. Not a dog barked.
"He's got skills," Ranger Roy said.
They ran over and helped Eddie pull the bodies out of sight.
"I don't figure we got much time till we have company. Where's she at?"
Bode checked the GPS.
"East side."
They slipped through the open gates and headed east along the perimeter wall. The base of the structure looked like a bunker half-built into the ground. Three floors extended above ground level. The entire structure was constructed of steel and concrete.
"Place looks like a fuckin' fort," Eddie whispered.
The grounds were lush with palm trees and bushes that provided cover. At the east doors, Eddie took out two more men with the silenced gun. They entered the residence but encountered no more guards. They continued down a long corridor until they came to an intersecting corridor. Bode checked the GPS.
"Down here."
"Governor, you boys go for your wife," Eddie said. "I'm going for El Diablo."
"Why?"
"Because this is what I do… and I do it better alone."
Bode, Doc, and Roy watched Eddie Jones disappear around the corner. Bode could hear their breathing in the silence of the corridor.
"I miss him again," the doctor said.
"Let's find Mrs. Bonner," Roy said. "And get her out of here."
Lindsay woke to Enrique's gentle touch on her shoulder. She jumped.
"Enrique-no!"
"Come. The governor, he has already arrived."
They followed the GPS directions around more corners and down more corridors. They darted across a courtyard with a pool and continued down a dim hallway until they arrived at a steel door. They stopped. The signal came from inside that room. Bode put the GPS unit in his pocket. He drew the big Colt six-shooter with his left hand. Roy wielded a nine-millimeter pistol. Doc removed his six-shooter from his waistband. Bode slowly turned the door handle with his right hand. It was unlocked. He pushed the door slightly open. The room appeared dimly lit. He saw no one. He swung the door fully open and saw that the room had no windows and was empty-except for the cell phone sitting on the floor under a bright spot light.
"She is very clever, your wife."
Bode felt a gun barrel on the back of his head and heard a man's voice behind them. The knit cap was yanked from his head.
"Please, step inside."
The three Americans stepped inside.
"Put your guns on the floor."
They put their guns on the floor.
"And the rifle."
Bode dropped the rifle to the floor.
"My, that is a big rifle. You must be a very bad hombre."
It wasn't a compliment.
"Now kick them away."
He did.
"Turn around."
They did. Standing before them was a bald Mexican man dressed in a black military outfit.
"I found the phone myself," the man said. "Your wife, she is very beautiful. And feisty. She told me I would have to fuck a dead woman, then she kicked me in my cojones. But before I kill her, I will have her. What do you think about that, Governor?"
"I think I'm gonna kill you."
The man smiled.
"Against the wall."
The three men backed up to the wall. The man pointed the gun at them.
"So, we have the governor of Texas… Dr. Rincon from Colonia Angeles — I came with el jefe the day we brought the medicine and supplies-and…" He looked Ranger Roy up and down. "My, you are a big hombre. And who are you?"
Roy stood tall. "I'm a Texas Ranger."
"Are you now?"
The man shot Roy in his heart. He fell to the floor, dead.
"Goddamnit!" Bode shouted. "Why'd you kill him?"
"I hate Rangers." He grinned. "So, to finish the introductions, I am Hector Garcia. I had your head in my cross hairs, Governor, but your girlfriend stepped in the way. You are a very lucky man. Not so much her."
Bode wanted to kill this man standing before him.
"Where's my wife?"
"Why?"
"I came to get her."
"But, Governor, how do you propose to get out of this room?"
"Did you not just hear me? I told you I'm gonna kill you. So after I kill you, where do I find my wife?"
"She is upstairs, with Enrique."
Hector now had an amused expression on his face.
"Your wife, she said you would kill me first."
"I've disappointed her many times-but not tonight."
Bode swung his right arm up, and just as he did, the doctor dove for their guns on the floor. Hector turned toward the doctor and fired his gun. With his left hand, Bode grabbed the Derringer riding on his right wrist and ripped it free of the rubber band. He pointed the Derringer at Hector, whose gun hand was now swinging back toward Bode. But Bode shot first. The. 41-caliber bullet from the Derringer struck Hector in his forehead. He fell backwards. But the doctor now lay on the floor. Bleeding.
"Doc!"
Bode dropped next to him. He found the wound in his upper leg.
"Why'd you do that?"
"A diversion."
"Damnit!"
"Save her."
The doctor passed out. Bode needed to find his wife and save her, fast, so she could save the doctor. He searched the doctor's pockets and found a handkerchief-and something else that might be useful. He stuffed the handkerchief into the open wound to slow the bleeding then took the doctor's belt and made a tourniquet. He put the Derringer in his pocket and grabbed a six-shooter and stuck it in his waistband then lifted the doctor and slung him over his shoulder. He had to find Lindsay and kill El Diablo.
Unless Eddie already had.
Eddie Jones had not confronted any more guards inside the residence. El Diablo apparently kept his soldados outside. Eddie now put his back to the wall and climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. Slowly. Listening for any sound. Any movement. He arrived at the fourth-floor landing. To the side that was visible from the stairs he could see an open door with a light on inside. But what was to his blind side? He stuck his head out beyond the wall and saw a flash of black.
"Damn."
Bode had his gun drawn. He had carried the doctor down the corridor and up three flights of stairs. He had arrived at the fourth-floor landing and spotted Eddie.
His head.
His body lay on the other side of the landing; blood had oozed out onto the colorful Mexican tile floor. Neither Ranger Roy nor Eddie Jones would make it back across the river. Bode Bonner might not. But it didn't matter. What mattered-all that mattered now-was getting his wife and the doctor back across the river. Their lives were worth saving. Their lives had meaning. His did not. He was just a politician.
" Bienvenido, Governor! Welcome to Nuevo Laredo! Please, come in!"
The voice came from inside a room just off the landing. Bode carried the doctor over to the door and into a spacious office with a plate glass wall facing the lights of Laredo.
"Ah, the man who would be president."
At the far end, a handsome Mexican man with a goatee stood against a desk holding an AK-47 pointed at Bode. A bloody machete stood against the desk. The governor's wife stood next to him. Wearing a short black dress.
"Oh, my God-is that Jesse?" she cried. "Is he alive?"
"He's unconscious. Some hombre named Hector shot him in the leg. You El Diablo?"
" Gringos call me that. I am Enrique de la Garza. And where is Hector now?"
"Dead." Bode turned to his wife. "So is Roy."
" My Ranger Roy?" Lindsay said. "He came for me?"
"It seems that many men came for you," El Diablo said. "I did not expect you so soon, Governor. I took your wife, what, not twenty-four hours ago? You came quickly, and you have already killed Hector Garcia. I am impressed."
"In a few minutes, you'll be dead."
"Hmm. Well, perhaps you should drop your gun."
Bode dropped the gun.
"Please kick it to me."
He kicked the gun away then laid the doctor on the couch. He faced his wife.
"Why are you wearing a party dress?"
"Why do you have a tan?"
"Don't you think that dress is a little short for a woman your age?"
"A woman my age? Enrique thinks I have beautiful legs. Don't you?"
El Diablo seemed confused. Lindsay put her hands on her hips.
"You said I had beautiful legs. Do I or don't I?"
She pulled the dress up enough to expose her black panties. El Diablo couldn't help but look, and when he did the barrel of the AK-47 dropped slightly, which gave Bode the opening he needed. He pulled the Derringer from his pocket, pointed it at El Diablo, and squeezed the trigger.
Click.
El Diablo smiled.
"That must be disappointing, Governor."
"A bit."
He must have shot both barrels at Hector. He dropped the Derringer on the floor.
"But that was a clever try. Your wife does have beautiful legs."
"I need to help Jesse," Lindsay said.
"Yes. Of course."
She went to the doctor and dropped to her knees next to him.
"I need to cut his pants leg."
El Diablo tossed scissors from his desk to her. She cut the doctor's trouser leg.
"Will he live?" Bode said.
"He's in shock. I need blankets."
"In the closet outside."
Lindsay stood and went outside. She gagged at the sight of a decapitated man. But she went closer and picked up a gun with a long tube on the barrel lying nearby. She then opened the closet and removed several blankets. She placed the blankets over the gun. She went back inside and covered Jesse with a blanket.
But she held the gun.
"I did not want that," Enrique said to her husband. "This is not about the doctor. This is about you."
"You wanted me here. I'm here. Let them go. Let her save the doctor. Shoot me if you want, but let them go."
"Yes, okay."
Enrique raised the AK-47 and shot Bode.
"Bode!"
The force knocked him to the floor. Lindsay released the gun under the blanket and went to her husband. She knelt over him and checked his wound. The bullet had struck him in his right shoulder.
A hot, sharp pain burned through Bode's shoulder. He didn't think it was a fatal wound, but his right arm was useless. He reached into his coat pocket with his left hand.
"I love you, Lindsay. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I didn't come here and beg you to come back to me. But I'm gonna get you and the doc back across the border. After I kill this son of a bitch."
El Diablo snorted. "You Texans, always with the cowboy talk."
He again pointed the AK-47 at Bode, but then seemed to think otherwise. He placed the gun on the desk then picked up the machete.
"You killed my son, Governor, now I must kill you. But I will not kill you like a coward, as you killed my son. I will kill you as a man
… mano a mano."
He stepped closer with the machete. Bode pushed Lindsay away.
"I killed your son because he was gonna kill a young girl."
"No! Jesus would never have hurt a child! He would never violate the code!"
"He beat her, and he raped her! A twelve-year-old girl!"
"No! I do not believe you!"
"You don't want to believe it, but you know it's the truth. The girl said he did. The other kids witnessed it. Your son was a sick fucking bastard just like his daddy!"
El Diablo glared at the governor of Texas.
"I will kill you now."
"Bring it, you crazy-ass bastard! I'm not afraid to die!"
"Good-because you are about to."
He raised his machete, but Lindsay threw her body over Bode.
" Senora Bonner, move away. I do not want you hurt. But the governor, he must die. Now."
El Diablo reached down and took her shoulder to pull her away from Bode, and when he did his face came within reach of Bode's long left arm-which Bode swung up and across El Diablo's face. He stumbled backwards and grabbed his face. Blood oozed from between his fingers.
" What… what is that?"
Bode pushed himself up off the floor and held out the scalpel he had found in Jesse's coat. El Diablo seemed stunned.
"A scalpel? You brought a scalpel?"
"Doc did."
El Diablo's face now showed his renewed determination to kill the governor of Texas. Bode searched for weapons. On a shelf were signed baseballs on small stands. He grabbed one.
"Do not touch my beisbols! "
Bode threw the ball at El Diablo. He ducked. Bode threw another. He ducked again. Bode threw baseballs until he ran out. Of baseballs, not balls. Because his only goal in life-his last goal in life-was to get his wife and the doctor back across the border. So he now fought with an energy that came from fear of failure, not of death. El Diablo stepped forward and swung the machete with both hands, again and again, blood dripping from the cut on his face. Bode jumped and ducked, but he felt the sharp blade slice through the skin on his left arm and bring blood. He knew the odds were against him, so on the next swing, Bode rushed El Diablo and tackled him with a ferocity he hadn't felt in twenty-five years. He wanted to drive this son of a bitch into the tile floor more than he had ever wanted to drive an opponent into the turf of a football field. They went down to the floor hard, and he felt the air come out of El Diablo as Bode's full weight landed on top of him, and he heard the machete's metal blade slide across the floor. Bode's right arm hung limp, but he punched El Diablo with his left fist as they rolled across the hard tile. He was determined to beat El Diablo to death, and might have, but a sudden sharp pain consumed his body. El Diablo kneed him in his balls. He released his grip, and when he looked up, El Diablo stood over him with the machete raised.
"I now avenge my son's murder. I now have justice."
"Stop!"
El Diablo froze. Lindsay pointed Eddie's silenced Glock at him.
"Shoot him!" Bode said.
Enrique de la Garza smiled down at the governor of Texas.
"Oh, Governor, your wife and I have plans. She will not shoot me."
She shot him. Twice.
Enrique fell backwards against the desk, the pain in his chest fierce and hot. He had been shot three times before, but he knew instantly that this would be the final time. His eyes turned down to the holes in his chest. He put his free hand over the wounds, and it was soon bloody. His breath came harder now, and he spit blood. Enrique de la Garza would die that night in Nuevo Laredo. He turned his bloody palm up, then he turned to the governor's wife.
"But we had plans."
"That was my plan," the governor's wife said.
Enrique de la Garza would never again read the ingles to Carmelita or listen to Julio's Bach. He would never again experience romance or feel the love of a woman. He would die alone. He would die now. He dropped the machete and stumbled outside onto the balcony. He leaned against the railing and gazed down at his beloved Rio Bravo.
Bode pushed himself up and wiped blood from his face, his blood or El Diablo's, he didn't know. He stepped out onto the balcony. El Diablo leaned against the railing, breathing hard and bleeding profusely.
"Please, Governor, do not let my children see me like this."
"What do you want?"
"Help me over, so that I may die in the Rio Bravo."
"Why should I?"
"Because we are not so different, you and I."
"How?"
"We both long for the love of a woman… the same woman. Yet neither of us shall have her love."
"You didn't kill me. I killed you."
"No. She killed me."
El Diablo turned and tried to hoist himself up and over the railing, but he was too weak. Bode shook his head then stepped closer and grabbed El Diablo to help him over the rail, but he suddenly felt a sharp pain. He groaned then backed away and looked down. El Diablo had stuck a switchblade deep in his gut.
"And now I have killed you, Governor. You will now die for murdering my son. That is justice. And I will now die with honor."
El Diablo threw himself over the railing. Bode heard a scream and turned to see Lindsay staring at the knife in his gut.
"Oh, God-Bode!"
He leaned over and looked down to the river. In the moonlight, he could see El Diablo's body sprawled on the riverbank a hundred feet below. Bode yanked the knife out and dropped it over the railing. Lindsay examined his wound.
"It's bad, Bode."
It was fatal. He knew it. He put his hand over the wound to stanch the bleeding. They went back inside and came face to face with a slender teenager with the face of an altar boy wearing black pants and a white shirt and pointing the AK-47 at Bode. The boy's hands trembled. Tears flowed down his face. He couldn't do it. He couldn't pull the trigger and kill a man. Bode walked to the boy and put his open palm on the boy's white shirt. He dragged his hand down and wiped his blood on the boy. He took the gun. Lindsay found a cloth and tried to stop the bleeding.
"Can you make it?"
"I'll get you both back across the river. If it's the last thing I do."
And he knew now it would be.
Jesse Rincon opened his eyes on a bloody scene. The governor's clothes were soaked with blood. Lindsay's hands were bloody. His own leg was bloody. And a boy stood there as if in shock, his shirt red with blood.
"Where is he?" Jesse said. "El Diablo?"
"Dead."
The boy walked out onto the balcony and peered over the rail. The governor leaned over Jesse.
"I can walk."
Jesse pushed himself up but fell into the governor's arms.
"The hell you can."
The governor dropped the AK-47 then hefted Jesse onto his shoulder.
Bode Bonner was the governor of Texas, and he sure as hell wasn't going to die in Mexico. He would die like a Texan. In Texas.
"Hand me my pistol."
His wife picked the gun up and held it out to him. He slid the Colt into his waistband. He then carried the doctor down three flights of stairs and to the front door. He stopped and drew the pistol.
"Open the door."
His wife pulled the door open on two armed guards. Bode shot them both with the Colt. 44. He saw no more guards so they hurried to the four black Mercedes-Benz sedans parked in the circle driveway. Lindsay ran ahead and stuck her head into the nearest car.
"Keys, " she said.
"Get in," Bode said. "I'll drive."
"I will navigate," the doctor said. "I know the way out."
Bode helped the doctor into the passenger's seat. Lindsay climbed into the back seat. Bode went around to the driver's side and saw two armed men running toward them. He put them both down with the Colt. He got in and started the engine.
"Go, go, go!" the doctor said.
Bode punched the accelerator, and the big Mercedes lurched forward and through the gates as shots rang out behind them.
"They're coming after us!" Lindsay said.
"We've got to get to the bridge!"
"No!" the doctor said. "The federales will soon know we have killed El Diablo. They will not allow us to cross the bridge. We must go west, to the river. To the colonia. Turn right here. Cesar de Lopez Lara."
Bode veered onto the road and drove past a string of cantinas and cheap motels.
"They're behind us," Lindsay said.
"Left-there. Avenida Alvaro Obregon."
Bode hit the brakes hard and made a fast turn, clipping a parked car. They were now driving down a dark road through what appeared to be a tenement of dilapidated houses and old cars parked right outside the doors. Groups of two and three men and women loitered on corners. Bode felt a fever washing over him.
"Did we lose them?"
"Yes," Lindsay said.
Bode slowed so as not to kill a pedestrian on the narrow street, until he heard his wife's voice.
"No."
He sped up-until he saw headlights coming directly at him.
"Shit-this is a one-way road, Doc! And we're going the wrong way!"
"Turn right- Calle Miguel Hidalgo. "
Bode swung the big sedan right onto another narrow street then sped up. His face felt hot and wet with sweat, and blood ran down his right arm and out of his gut.
"I grew up in this neighborhood," the doctor said. "A major road is just ahead. We can try to outrun them."
Bode came to an Alto sign but he didn't alto. He veered to avoid cars parked along both sides through a little business district for five blocks then the road dead-ended into a four-lane roadway. The light was red, but "They're still behind us," Lindsay said.
"Left!" the doctor said.
Bode gunned the sedan through the light and turned south. Now they heard sirens.
" Policia," Lindsay said.
They had joined the chase from a side road and were now on their side.
"They're shooting at us!" Lindsay screamed.
Bullets hit the driver's side window, but did not penetrate the glass.
"I'll be damned. An armored car."
He glanced at the policia. They too were stunned. Bode stuck his middle finger up at them. He floored the accelerator and soon had the sedan running eighty. Two lanes ran south, so Bode had room to maneuver. He swerved around slower moving traffic and put some distance between them and the policia and El Diablo's men. He blew through another red light.
"Aw, shit."
Traffic had stopped ahead. Cars were waiting to turn into a walled compound.
"Boys' Town," the doctor said.
"Great."
Bode blinked hard to maintain focus. He swerved around the line of cars. But just past Boys' Town the police had set up a roadblock.
"Hold on!"
Bode headed straight at the police cars then abruptly jumped the low median and drove around them in the northbound lanes then jumped the median back to the southbound lanes.
"They're coming after us."
The doctor grabbed the dashboard.
"Turn around!"
"Why?"
He pointed. "That is the Villareal, the motel where the federales stationed here reside."
But they weren't just residing there; they were waiting for them in military trucks parked across all four lanes. Bode slammed on the brakes and swung the Mercedes around into the northbound lane. He stomped on the accelerator and sped past the policia and soldados heading southbound.
"Go left on Abraham Lincoln," the doctor said.
Bode turned left and accelerated.
"Now right on Constitucion."
He swung right.
"Faster! No alto! "
"Don't worry, Doc. I ain't stopping."
They flew through the stop sign at Venezuela.
"Left on Peru."
Bode hit the brakes and turned the wheel hard. The sedan fishtailed and sideswiped a Tacos y Barbacoa vendor truck. He straightened out and headed west.
"Now go very fast," the doctor said.
Bode went very fast. The traffic was one-way, and they were going the right way for a change. They sped past cantinas with drunks loitering outside and small restaurants. In the rearview, Bode could see flashing lights. But they had a lead on them. His breathing came faster now.
"Bode, are you okay?" Lindsay asked.
"I'll get you home."
"There!" the doctor said. " Calzada De Los Heroes. The highway west."
Bode steered onto the highway. Four lanes headed west, so Bode pushed the sedan. They soon cleared the dense part of the city.
"We are outside the city now. Perhaps they will not follow."
"They're following," Lindsay said.
"Faster!"
Bode pushed the sedan to ninety. The pain in his gut had gotten worse. Much worse. He clenched back a groan.
"What's that?"
Up ahead, he saw red taillights, as if cars were being stopped.
" Bandidos. "
"You gotta fucking be kidding me."
"Do not stop, Governor."
He didn't. He swerved into the oncoming lanes and around an eighteen-wheeler then back into the westbound lanes.
"You drive fast very well, Governor."
"I been driving in Texas all my life."
"We will turn soon, toward the river."
"Bode," Lindsay said, "they're getting closer."
"There!" the doctor said. "The white cross… Turn!"
Bode slammed on the brakes and veered off the highway.
"There's no road."
"A dirt road leads to the river."
Bode steered down a path cut through the desert. The car bottomed out, so he couldn't go fast. His face felt hot; he fought not to pass out.
"They turned in behind us," Lindsay said.
"The river is just ahead," the doctor said.
"They're closer!"
"Just beyond that bluff is the river."
"How do we get down to it?"
"We drive over the bluff."
"Over the bluff?"
"It is a low bluff. We will drive right into the river. It is not deep, because of the drought. The colonia is just on the other side."
"Lower the windows."
"Punch it, Governor."
Bode punched it.
"Hang on!"
The big Mercedes-Benz sedan flew off the low bluff and belly-flopped into the Rio Grande. The air bags deployed and cushioned the blow. The car settled into the river. They climbed out the open windows and into the river. The water was only a few feet deep. Lindsay and Bode pulled the doctor out of the river and to dry ground against a ten-foot-high bank.
"We must get to the riverbank above," the doctor said. "We will be easy targets down here."
"I'll get you up, Doc."
Bode hefted the doctor onto his shoulder again, and the pain told him that this would be his last living act. Lindsay scrambled up the dirt side as if she were that tomboy back in ninth grade. Bode grabbed a cane shoot with his left hand and pushed with his legs, the doctor hanging on and Bode's body bleeding out, and his right knee with the four scars burned hot with pain and his mind pulled up memories of lying on a football field with ligaments torn apart, of taking the pain and fighting through the pain, and sucking in air as he was now, and just as then, Bode Bonner refused to give in to the pain. Lindsay reached down to him and he reached up to her but he saw his sister Emma now and he wanted to make the Bonner family proud, so he grunted out one last massive effort… and he stood in Texas again. He dropped to his knees, and the doctor tumbled off his shoulder.
"Thank you, mi amigo," the doctor said from the ground. "You have saved our lives."
Flashing lights appeared across the river.
"They're here!" Lindsay said. "We've got to get into the colonia."
She helped the doctor to his feet. He put an arm around the governor's wife. Bode pushed himself to his feet, but his time had come. He was born in Texas, and he would die in Texas. But he had gotten his wife home. He had come for her, as she knew he would. His last great adventure wasn't winning the White House-it was saving his wife. He now looked east and saw the sun rising over the Rio Grande. Over Texas. Perhaps it was the adrenaline or perhaps the delirium that now consumed his mind, but William Bode Bonner stood to his full six-foot-four-inch height and raised his good arm to God and shouted to Texas.
"That was a hell of an adventure!"
Just as he lost consciousness and his body collapsed to the ground, shots rang out from the other side of the river.